Tough Break
by loserless
Summary: Danger did not seek her out. She did not seek out danger. In fact, they would prefer to never see each other at all. Unfortunately for Shaera, she'd been joined at the hip to the reincarnation of something that should have never manifested itself. Tough break, kid.
1. Blame It On Bad Luck

_"Pound my knuckles __hard against the floor,_  
><em> My head against the wall,<em>  
><em> But I did this to myself.<em>  
><em> Assume it's just not worth getting back up,<em>  
><em> So I'll blame it on bad luck.<em>  
><em> And I'll shake responsibility,<em>  
><em>And say the hard life did this to me."<em>

* * *

><p>Shaera was the patron saint of 'wrong place, wrong time'. Or at least, that was what she'd convinced herself of. She did not seek out danger, and danger did not seek out her. Danger just seemed to walk into the bathroom when she had her pants down - Shaera was always caught unprepared and uninformed. It was this near-constant torrent of troubling situations that got her into this mess.<p>

She'd been late for dinner - no big deal. Plenty of kids in the village showed up for dinner late. It wasn't just the lateness, though. She'd gotten lost in the forest during a particularly intense game of hide-and-seek with a couple of her friends. Needless to say, she'd won, as the other kids had run back to their parents to get help in finding her.

Soon enough, it was dark - no big deal. Plenty of kids in all of Hyrule were still wandering around after dark. Not in her village, though. The highly superstitious - and apparently quite smart - elders where she lived believed that evil spirits were born and bred in the swamp. This superstition was ingrained so hard into their society that everyone was cozy inside their warm homes by the time the sun had disappeared behind the horizon.

At first, she was not afraid. What was there to fear in the dark? What was there to fear in the night? The girl was young, and did not understand the evils in the world. However, she soon became scared when she realized how invariably alone she was. Silence reigned over the swamp at dusk, as if all the creatures living there held the same suspicions that the humans did. As if they too were hiding from something.

Finally, somebody stumbled upon her. It was an older boy in the village - probably just 15. His name was Leonl, and he was well-known among the other kids as the doting older brother. At first, he'd mistaken her for a threat, and had thrown a poorly-aimed dagger in her direction. It landed in the dirt next to her with a pathetic thud. Shaera promptly began to sob, and soon Leonl came to his senses and gently led her back home, with a giant, flaming torch in hand to help fend off the spirits.

Her parents were far too relieved at her safe return to scold her for being so absent-minded. They would not let her leave the village alone for a good many years. The elders had entirely different reactions to her return. She'd been out in the forest at night, when the dark spirits were most potent. Who knows what kind of evil had latched itself onto her? They were not a cruel people, however, and did not resent Shaera for something that was hardly her fault. In addition to needing a buddy to venture into the forest, she was kept in mind almost constantly. People were always checking up on her. How was she? Feeling good? Feeling in tip-top shape? Anything scaring her? Anything hurting her? Anything at all wrong? Of course, she continued to not understand their reasonings for this concern, and her childhood went off without a hitch.

Things change, as things tend to do, and suddenly Shaera was nearing 18 years old. Time seemed to have flown by them all - friends of hers were getting married, some of the elders had died off - nobody seemed to notice whatsoever. Surprisingly, the teenager decided that she did not want to become a housewife and sit around the village day-in-and-day-out. She actually had been engaged to Leonl for quite some time, but it was not to be. Her parents, relatives, and close friends waved a bittersweet goodbye to their trouble-magnet of a friend, and Shaera was on her way.

The euphoria did not last long. She quickly realized that living on your own was not quite as easy and carefree as she thought it would be. This resulted in several screwups, including, but not limited to: getting robbed, breaking 3 ribs/her nose/both her left and right arm, an infected flesh wound, tuberculosis, getting conned, getting one of her back teeth knocked out, and gambling nearly all of her belongings away in a drunken misplacing of judgement. Shaera swore not to drink _ever again._

She survived, however painful it had been to pick herself back up after all of these mistakes, and carried herself much more carefully because of it. What nobody realized, including herself, was that she was not just a half-brained klutz. In truth, Shaera was quite the intelligent one, with a well-cared-for body to boot. There was a demon on her shoulder - one that had skewered the past one and also ridden her of the angel that had originally been paired with it. Now she simply had one big monster to trip her down cliffs and tip just a bit too much wine into her glass.

She'd gotten lost in the woods - that was her first mistake.

She'd let something dark grab ahold of her, germinating slowly into something much more massive than just a little bad juju. Instead of spilling some salt, it was like she'd simultaneously smashed 6,000 mirrors while running under a giant ladder and stopping to let a horde of black cats cross in front of her. Shaera had unknowingly shaken hands with an ancient evil, something otherworldly, and the devil had grinned toothily back at her.

Somehow, it was almost unsurprising that a swarthy, dark figure was suddenly threatening to take her life. It just figured, really. Tough break, kid.

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><p><strong>AN: I realize that Zelda fanfiction isn't all that relevant anymore, and for some reason Dark Link is now considered creepypasta? Goddamn weeaboos.<strong>

**Anyways, I really am just writing this for myself. Hope you enjoy it anyways.**

**Song Quoted: Blame It On Bad Luck - Bayside**

**Cover image was made by this lovely person on DeviantArt: LunarMew  
><strong>


	2. Doppelganger

"_Can you hear me_  
><em> When I'm trapped behind the mirror?<em>  
><em> A doppelganger roaring<em>  
><em> From my silent kind of furor?<em>

_ Paranoia backward whispering on my shoulder,_  
><em> Like a wasp is getting nervous.<em>  
><em> So if I shiver, man, it's over."<em>

* * *

><p>I firmly believe in the art of suggestion. Like the tickle of your own hair against your neck, feeling like spiders, or the way your own shadow can make you sprint back inside the house. Just the mere thought of something bad happening to me is enough to make me anxious. It is a wonder, then, that I decided sleeping above a fortune-teller's parlor was a good idea.<p>

The moment I walked into the building, the local psychic nearly had a conniption. I could've sworn that the woman had flicked Goddess' tears in my direction as I made my way to the inn's counter, intent on renting a bed for the night. Not before the old woman grasped my hands tightly, a look of foreboding in her aged eyes.

"There are dark spirits about you, young lady," the fortune-teller gasped, slipping a charm bracelet subtly onto my left wrist, "Dark spirits attached to you…" Her eyes went from fearful to sorrowful, like she'd arrived at a murder scene far too late to save the victim. The cryptic woman's son swiftly tugged the woman away from me, apologies leaving his lips faster than I could react. He gave me a room at half price, as well as a free supper, before I retired to bed.

Upon entering my room, I shucked off my boots, rummaging around in my things for a more comfortable change of clothes to sleep in. I had already decided to forgo bathing for the day. Chancing another run-in with the old bat downstairs was something I didn't want to do, and the baths were available for me the following day anyways.

I sat on my temporary bed with an elongated sigh, feeling too exhausted to do anything but immediately fall asleep. There were still things to think about though, and so I fiddled with my hands as a way to cope with the anxiety and nervousness that had accumulated within me. It wasn't the first time people had had that reaction to my presence. There had been priests that flinched when I caught their line of sight, maternal animals that had bared their teeth and guarded their young. The list goes on.

It wasn't as if I was a bad person. I never stole, I never killed anyone, I never mocked a person's choice of living - in fact, I very rarely had a single malicious thought in my head. Hell, my first time hunting had gone horribly. I'd plucked a long-dead rodent off the ground and brought it to my father with my nose plugged tightly. He'd been less than pleased with my attempt to avoid killing an innocent animal. It had taken me months just to kill a small animal, let alone stop crying after I did so. Now, hunting was a necessity to get money, but it wasn't as if I killed them inhumanely.

There was no reason for people to feel so threatened by me. So why were they?

My fingers brushed against the charm bracelet that the woman had looped around my wrist, and I was almost surprised to find it there. I'd hardly noticed when she'd 'gifted' it to me. I was too preoccupied with my apprehension towards the old hag to realize I'd donned a new accessory. It was very simple, with one bead of ivory and another of ebony. They were strung along a thick thread of horse hair, just enough room for the bracelet to move freely, but not slip off of your wrist. It was oddly poetic, if not incredibly pretentious, and probably had some 'deeper meaning' that I just wasn't getting. Possibly about the existence of light amongst the dark and how it's all connected, or something of that matter.

Nonetheless, it found itself in the garbage as soon as I'd found it on my body.

I slipped into my nightclothes, all too ready to sink myself into dreamland, when the candle at my bedside suddenly blew out. It was not startling, per say, as there was plenty of moonlight streaming in from the window already. The event was eerie as all get out, to be exact. Something so simple shouldn't have frightened me so, but it did. I'd already been harassed about a spirit that may or may not be traveling around with me, and this was just icing on the freak cake. Perhaps it was the wind. Maybe I'd been a little too rough with taking off my clothes and it had been blown out. It didn't matter - I was already on edge.

Swallowing thickly, I did not take my eyes off of the nightstand as I struggled to light a match with relentlessly shaking hands. Eventually, I managed to light the Goddesses-damned thing, and the incandescent glow of the lone candle filled my corner of the room. Sweat had begun building up just beneath my skin, and a violent shiver wracked down my spine at the cold the moisture had attracted.

A sudden, unwelcomed knock at the door caused yet another chill to reverberate along my body, and I very nearly threw myself out the nearby window in a fit of fear. I choked for a moment, the words I meant to say sticking to the back of my throat like glue, "W-who's there?"

"It's just me, dearie. I've come to apologize for earlier," a vaguely familiar voice called back, "Are you decent?"

After hearing me give the affirmative, the fortune teller from earlier hobbled slowly into the room, closing the door behind her. While it was mildly comforting to know that it was the old woman, instead of a crazed murderer, the package she held underneath her arm worried me slightly.

"You gave me quite the scare back there…" The old woman began, settling herself into a chair that had previously rested in the opposite side of the room, "It's been a long, long time since I've felt an aura such as yours. May I ask your name, young lady?"

For a moment, I didn't respond, still processing the elder female's words. "It's Shaera… Yourself?"

As if miming my hesitation to reply, the woman merely cast me a small smile, beginning to unwrap the small parcel that she had rested in her lap. "Riwah," she said simply, pulling a palm-sized ornament from the package, "I am sorry if I startled you, though… It's not exactly _your _aura that worries me."

I figured she was talking about whatever 'dark spirit' was currently lurking around, but it didn't make me any less confused. Sure, I noticed odd things here and there, but not enough to make me think that some malicious being was my constant companion.

"Your aura is not evil, but it is very restless. I could feel it from downstairs," Riwah continued without a better description as to what the hell she was talking about, "I could not sleep knowing one of our guests was uncomfortable. Now - go and get that charm bracelet out of the trash can for me."

I was stunned, and pretty embarrassed, to say the least. "Um… Yes m'am."

She chuckled lightly at my mortification, "I do not blame you, dearie. Had I been you, I would've thrown that old thing out as well." The woman took the bracelet from me, only to promptly slip it back on my wrist. "Please wear that during your stay here, at least to help me rest easy, if not for your own sake. It is meant to ward off the evil spirits around you…"

To me, it didn't make sense. "You said that the dark spirits were _attached _to me… How will this keep them away?" I asked tensely, both to satiate my curiosity and to better understand what was going on with me.

"A better word for it would be _him, _actually," she quipped calmly, stringing a piece of yarn to and fro around this wooden circle that she'd pulled from her parcel. However, she did not continue her explanation, as if she'd simply forgotten that I'd even asked her a question.

"I didn't realize spirits could have genders…" I muttered dumbly, sitting myself down roughly on my bed, a breath of exasperation leaving my lips as I did so.

Riwah hummed positively in return, captivated almost entirely by her current work, "Most of them do not, but yours is much different. He is ancient, and he used to be someone else's."

I couldn't tell if she meant that the spirit was in a relationship or if it was under some contractual slavery. At the same time, I was extremely uncomfortable that she was calling it _mine._ Whatever it was, or if it even existed, it was not _mine_. I did not want it, I did not ask for it, and it had no right to invade my life like it was. Or should I say _him. _Whoever _he _was.

"I really do not mean to be rude, but you're not making things clearer for me," I admitted breathlessly, my hands clenched tightly on the bed's frame.

The woman just continued her work, clucking softly at me as if I were an impatient child. You can't tell someone they might be haunted and then tsk at them like that. "All in due time, I promise," she cooed before pointing behind me, "I need you to hang this in your windowsill." I took the circular object from her outstretched hands and looked it over.

A dream catcher, then? I'd seen plenty of these before in my life, but mostly in the windows of daydreaming teenagers and old widows, not in the window of a 19-year-old girl. Did she really think this was going to keep _nightmares _away? Actually, I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a nightmare before. It seemed like I was living one.

"I know what you're thinking, dearie," Riwah began, making me wish she'd stop calling me that, "But it's not just a dream catcher. It's a test." I hung it in the window begrudgingly, mostly to make her leave the room, but she did not elaborate more on anything before she sprinkled a dusty black mixture at my doorway and left the room, another small bag of the stuff sitting in my palm. I sighed heavily, putting a line of it along the window as well, figuring that it would at least _sort-of _put my nerves at ease.

It was silly, I realized, but sometimes you really do want help, and will do whatever it takes to get that help. Maybe that included doing something bizarre like this, maybe it included running away from your problems in search of something to protect yourself, but no matter what it was, you'd do it. So I guess that's my reasoning for conceding to this woman's advice. I didn't want to meet whatever evil had possibly crept into my life.

I didn't want to die.

* * *

><p>Late into the next afternoon, I found myself marching stiffly to where the old woman had said she'd be. She was sitting towards the back of the building in a fairly small, cozy room that smelled of lavender and spice. Had I not been so wired at that moment, I would've felt comforted by the atmosphere it held. The fortune-teller noticed me almost immediately.<p>

"Have you come bearing news, young one?" She crooned, not turning around from her work. Gulping heavily, I sidled forward to the table she faced, and dropped a bundle of broken pieces onto the surface. "As I thought. The dream catcher has broken." Almost immediately, the woman changed directives. She forgot whatever she'd been doing before, and began shuffling around the room, gathering various items and jars that carried unknown substances.

I brought an extra chair up towards the table after she'd asked me to do so, and I settled myself down while Riwah got busy. Eventually, she too settled herself at the table, and started to empty things into a large wooden bowl. I saw sprigs of parsley, dashes of pepper, and many other spices and plants that I could not identify quickly enough. At one point, I could've sworn she'd dropped a lamb's bone into the mixture, only serving to heighten my anxiety. Finally, the woman seemed to be done, only getting up once more to pull the curtains closed. I wasn't an idiot. I was about to witness some spiritistic ritual. The thought made me want to throw up.

She dropped a lit match into the bowl, reaching across the table to grasp my hands firmly. I watched her eyes close, the wrinkles around her face seeing to soothe, and she breathed in deeply. Not knowing quite what to do, I mimed her, only succeeding in making my heart feel like it would burst. This was scaring the living shit out of me, regardless of whether or not it was apparent. Was I getting freaking _exorcised? _What in the Goddesses' names was going on here?

Suddenly, the room fell into dead silence. The eerie feeling seemed to have crept throughout the whole inn, and even our breaths seemed inaudible at this point. A horrible, painful chill wracked up my spine, eliciting a cry from my lips. The cry did not make it all the way out of my body, though a nominal amount of blood did, gurgling up my throat.

"Oh, dearie, let me help you," The woman breathed, her eyes wide and alert now. She handed me several tissues which I quietly spat into, trying to keep the tears from flowing down my cheeks. In all honesty, I felt better. Way, _way _better than I had before. It was like I'd been shackled for years, and only now was the weight lifted from me. In fact, I felt so liberated that I seemed to lack the balance to walk now, and had to be helped back to my room. Everyone left me to my own devices after I confirmed that I was fine, and I began packing my things, a new positivity nestled deep into my core. There was little way to repay the woman for how she'd helped me, but I planned to leave her a bit more money as a thank you.

However, things do not always go as planned.

A deadpan, snarly voice seemed to have fabricated itself out of nowhere, assaulting my ears from behind me, "You know, I think that old hag might have made it worse."

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><p><strong>AN: I don't know. Do you know? I don't. Thanks to Kaleeco for reviewing! Love getting reviews, regardless as to whether or not I'm mostly writing this for myself. Keeps me young. Sorry I switched points of view after the prologue… First person comes more easily to me...<strong>

**Happy trails.**

**Song Quoted: Doppelganger - The Antlers**


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